Funding models of city networks and their ecosystem of partners

This chapter focuses on the relationship between the financing and governance of transnational city networks. We argue that funding is not only about how an organization works on its own and what it can achieve with the resources it has; it is also about who gives money to and who exerts power over that organization. We introduce a new, tridimensional typology of transnational city network financing models and apply this typology to three case studies: UCLG, C40, and the Mayors Migration Council. From this, we generate five insights. First, networks have a wide variety of funders. Second, a lack of structural or core funding affects the capacity of networks to fulfill their missions. Third, many factors influence networks’ financing models, including funders. Fourth, the increasing involvement of private actors in the ecosystem of transnational city networks still has unclear effects. Fifth, there remains information opaqueness in the financing of transnational city networks.